Firm News and Recent Decisions
Karina DeHayes and Mark Horwitch Receive Special Recognition
January 14, 2015
SuperLawyers® Magazine has recognized nearly three-fourths of TDR partners and one associate for their high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.
In addition, Karina DeHayes was named one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers and Mark Horwitch was named one of the Top 100 Illinois Lawyers.
Congratulations to:
SuperLawyers
- Karina Zabicki DeHayes
- Gino L. DiVito
- Mark H. Horwitch
- Timothy A. Hudson *
- Jeffrey Patton
- Michael I Rothstein
- Caesar A. Tabet
Rising Stars
- John J. Barber
- Michael J. Grant
- Brian C. Haussmann
- Daniel I. Konieczny
- Brent Ryan (A) *
(A) - Associate
* - First time honoree in this category
The list of Illinois SuperLawyers includes no more than five percent of the lawyers in the state. Rising Star is a distinction reserved for the top 2.5% of Illinois lawyers who are under 40 or in practice for 10 years or fewer.
January 9, 2015
On January 8, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed in its entirety the district court’s Order dismissing with prejudice all copyright infringement and other federal claims in connection with a lawsuit filed against a U.S. recording company in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The plaintiff had alleged that the recording company and its artists improperly used the plaintiff’s purportedly protected materials. The plaintiff’s lawsuit asserted 14 counts alleging numerous copyright infringement claims, a claim under the Visual Artists Rights Act, and a host of state law claims. TDR attorney Timothy Hudson represented the recording company before the district and appellate courts.
December 11, 2014
TDR won an important appellate victory in the Illinois Appellate Court for its client BorgWarner Inc. The appellate court’s opinion affirms the circuit court’s decision that BorgWarner was entitled to receive certain documents from its indemnitees notwithstanding their claim that the attorney-client privilege blocked disclosure.
The December 9th edition of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin quoted TDR partner Caesar A. Tabet as saying: “It really is an important case that involves a cover-up of serious contamination that has resulted in contract indemnity liability in excess of $150 million. The appellate court’s decision is a critically important decision involving contract indemnity.”
December 2, 2014
On November 21, 2014, Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge John Belz issued an order (linked) finding Public Act 98-0599, a pension reduction law that was enacted in December 2013, unconstitutional and void in its entirety. Working with attorneys representing various other plaintiff groups, TDR partners Gino L. DiVito, John M. Fitzgerald, Brian C. Haussmann, and John J. Barber, and TDR associate Uri B. Abt successfully represented retired Illinois teachers and retired and active Illinois school administrators in that litigation. “This is precisely the type of complex constitutional litigation in which our firm excels,” said TDR name partner Gino L. DiVito, “and we couldn’t be happier with the result.”
TDR partner John Fitzgerald was quoted in Crain’s Chicago Business on November 21, 2014 as observing that Judge Belz’s decision was “exactly the result that drafters of the Illinois constitution intended: that people could rely on their pensions without fear of them being reduced.”
Because the Attorney General has initiated an appeal of the trial court’s ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court, TDR will continue to represent its clients in this case before the Illinois Supreme Court.
October 24, 2014
Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC obtained a favorable judgment for our client, a prominent international law firm, in an action alleging professional liability with respect to patent litigation. The court dismissed, with prejudice, all claims against our client, and entered an order barring all contribution claims.
This case was originally filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The District Court dismissed the case on our motion for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The case was then refiled in the Circuit Court of Cook County, which entered judgment in our favor.
TDR attorneys Jack Barber, John Fitzgerald, Brent Ryan, and Uri Abt participated in this effort.
October 22, 2014
Michael Rothstein has been elected Treasurer of the Federal Bar Association’s Chicago chapter. With over 16,000 attorneys and 1,200 federal judges in its national ranks, the Federal Bar Association is the leading bar association focusing on attorneys who practice in the federal courts. The FBA’s Chicago chapter works closely with the judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to provide the Chapter’s members with a wide variety of educational and professional programs relevant to federal practice.
September 17, 2014
Michael Rothstein has been nominated to become a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Membership in The Fellows is limited to less than one percent of the lawyers admitted to practice in each jurisdiction of the United States and to a small percentage of international lawyers.
August 1, 2014
Tabet DiVito & Rothstein successfully represented Abbott Laboratories in an appeal concerning Abbott’s dispute with Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London, over insurance coverage for a pharmaceutical product recall. In its opinion, the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, affirmed the circuit court of Cook County’s award to Abbott of over $80 million in damages. TDR attorneys Gino L. DiVito and John M. Fitzgerald and attorneys at Winston & Strawn LLP served as appellate co-counsel for Abbott in this case.
Tabet DiVito & Rothstein has extensive experience in complex appellate matters, and it regularly represents businesses in commercial insurance disputes.
July 28, 2014
On July 21, 2014, Judge Amy St. Eve entered an order dismissing with prejudice copyright and other claims in connection with a lawsuit filed against a U.S. recording company in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Plaintiff alleged that the defendant recording company and its artists improperly used plaintiff’s purportedly protected materials. Plaintiff’s lawsuit asserted 14 counts alleging numerous copyright infringement claims, a claim under the Visual Artists Rights Act, and a host of state law claims. TDR attorneys Timothy Hudson and Mili Smith moved to dismiss the lawsuit in its entirety. Judge St. Eve granted a full dismissal with prejudice with respect to all claims over which the Court had original jurisdiction and declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over plaintiff’s remaining state law claims.
July 14, 2014
In his Law and Accounting Column in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Jack Barber discussed a recent Illinois Appellate Court case involving two Illinois laws relating to the gaming industry. In Tomm’s Redemption Inc. v. Hamer, 2014 IL App (1st) 131005 (March 14, 2014), the Appellate Court discussed two statutes that impact the gaming industry. The Coin-Operated Amusement Device and Redemption Machine Tax Act, 35 ILCS 510/1, applies to coin-operated games that are not used for gambling. The Video Gaming Act, 230 ILCS 40/35, applies to video game devices used for gambling.
In the case, the Appellate Court upheld the validity of Section 35(a) of the Video Gaming Act, which prohibits and criminalizes video-gaming devices that contain knock-off switches and retention meters. Knock-off switches and retention meters, which have been prohibited by federal law since at least 1951, serve as a type of illicit accounting system that transforms amusement devices that do not have a direct-payout system, such as a slot machine, into gambling devices. The Appellate Court also held that tax decals issued pursuant to the Coin-Operated Amusement Device and Redemption Machine Tax Act do not constitute a license to operate a coin-operated video gaming machine. Rather than licenses, these decals are only proof that tax was paid on the coin-operated device.
